Running News Daily

Five annoying things you should never do in races

On Sunday at the 2022 London Marathon, 38-year-old runner Richard Lee-Wright from Devon, U.K., sprinted to the front off the start and ridiculously celebrated that he led the London Marathon for about 400m.

After the race, when the media asked Lee-Wright why he did this, he responded: “I bet a friend six years ago I could lead the London Marathon, and he thought there was no chance. I’d told people for years that I wanted to do this, and they laughed at me and didn’t believe I could do it.”

No matter the race size or distance, there’s always that one runner who gets out a little too hot, which can be annoying for all the other runners who are there to actually race.

Here are five annoying things I’ve noticed runners typically do in a race.

Sprinting at the start

Although doing this may seem funny to you and your friends, leading the local 5K or marathon for roughly 30 seconds isn’t amusing or impressive. Ninety-nine per cent of the time, the runner who sprints at the start ends up struggling to finish.

Lee-Wright at the 2022 London Marathon is a fine example; he finished his marathon in 3:23:08 (which is a very average time for a 38-year-old) after training “six years” for this. 

Cutting people off

When you are racing, the last thing you are thinking about is how to pass someone respectfully, but there’s nothing worse than being cut off by another runner. Accidents happen, and usually, the runner doesn’t mean to do it, but it’s essential to be mindful of your surroundings when passing so no one gets hurt. (And to apologize if you do accidentally cut someone off.)

Yelling out kilometer splits

If this is you, we know you are trying to be helpful to other runners, but everyone has a running watch nowadays and does not need you shouting out your kilometer splits every four minutes.

This can be looked at differently if you are a rabbit or pace bunny for another athlete.

Spitting uncontrollably

We get it, every runner has to do it; but there is a respectful/non-gross way to go about it. If you have to spit, move off to the side of the road instead of horking in the middle of a pack of other runners. The runners behind you will certainly be grateful that you moved out of the way.

Playing music out loud

The perfect running playlist is the one that isn’t on blast for thousands of runners to hear. If you want to listen to music during your race, wear headphones. Don’t assume that everyone wants to hear what you’re listening to.